Discover no Delight
by animalisticigus
Summary: Upon arriving at Hotel Denouement, the siblings encounter various obstacles. Klaus is feeling things he shouldn't.
1. Default Chapter

Klaus felt...strangely Inot/I nervous. He knew something was wrong with getting in a car with a stranger, but the feeling that he was doing something morally wrong was missing. Shaking away the guilty feeling of not feeling guilty, the brown-haired boy scrambled into the car after his siblings. The woman who had introduced herself as Kit gently smiled, revved the engine and pulled away from the curb. All three siblings couldn't help but turn and watch the figure of Mr. Poe, frantically waving, to slowly grow miniscule.

"Kit Snicket? Jacques's sister?" Klaus heard the soft voice of his elder sister inquire in an almost-disbelieving voice. The woman driving the car laughed, and nodded.

"That's me. And you're the Baudelaires?" Kit was speaking in a manner almost as shocked as Violet, but more believing. Klaus smiled.

"Yes, that's us. We're so glad you were here." He knew what he was saying was the truth, but he still wasn't quite sure what made him so assured that they were in better clutches than they would be with Mr. Poe. IAre you nuts? Almost anyone is better than Mr. Poe!/I piped up that insane voice inside his head that never seemed to end up at quite the same conclusion as the rest of his being.

They drove in silence for a few minutes, unsure as to what should come next. "Are we-are you taking us to Hotel Denouement?" Klaus asked, praying that the answer was yes.

"Where else?" Kit replied, with a slight edge of bitterness, not even blinking. "There simply isn't any other place for people like us." A delicate emphasis was placed on the word 'us'.

The Baudelaire siblings knew, for the most part, when too many questions were asked, and they should remain quiet. This was one of those times. Klaus glanced at Sunny and Violet, attempting to ensure that they did not appear too nervous. Sunny was sitting peacefully, her feet a good foot from the floor of the car, staring out the window. She trusted her siblings judgement fully, and didn't appear overly nervous. Violet was showing signs of a person that had run out of reasonable options, and was forced to take the most acceptable of the remaining options. Otherwise, she appeared somewhat content. Klaus put a hand on her shoulder. It was unneccessary, but some unidentifiable emotion had spurred him on to do so anyway.

"Are you alright?" Klaus asked, feeling he needed to validate his physical contact in some way, knowing the lack of need for the question.

"I'm fine," Violet smiled a weak smile, "I thought you would have known."

It was true, the siblings had a bond. Klaus could almost always tell what his elder and youngest sister was thinking, and vice-versa. This bond was strongest in times of peril. Unfortunately, the three siblings had their fair share of peril in the past few months.

The car was silent for what seemed an unbearable amount of time. Being in a car with nothing to do had its negative sides, no matter the positives of the destination. They had seen several books occupying the passenger's side of the taxi, but figured it best not to request them. It wasn't so much that the siblings were bored, as they were anxious. Unsure as to what was coming, without anything to occupy their time they were forced to imagine various scenarios when they arrived at Hotel Denouement. Who would be there? A parent, a long-lost friend?

Eventually the gentle purring of the car, and the fall of nighttime outside lulled the siblings to sleep. Sunny lay her head in Violet's lap, and the older two siblings simply leaned back against the seats and slept in that matter, however uncomfortable the position was. It was uncertain how long they slept, but when they awoke, it was pitch black outside.

The car had stopped, and Kit was opening her door.

"We're here," she announced in a relieved manner. It was clear she hadn't enjoyed the long car ride either.

The Baudelaires opened their car door and exited, stretching their cramped muscles and yawning before gazing at their surroundings. All three siblings gasped. They didn't know what they were expecting, but it wasn't this. Hotel Denouement was HUGE. Larger than a football field in diameter, and taller than one as well. It more resembled a castle than a real hotel. The stone turrets and towers seemed to disappear into the black of the night as they stretched so far above them. It was, in a word, magnificent.

"It's beautiful, yes?" Kit's resounding voice called from ahead of them. "We'd better get inside. People are probably waiting...for both of us."

The siblings froze, suddenly struck by the nervous jitters. Who would be waiting for them?

"Come!" The youngest sibling lead her elder siblings up the stone pathway lined with shrubs. From what they could see the lawn was quite kept. It was clear what Sunny had meant, so they stepped forward and continued following both Kit and Sunny. They reached an enormous wooden doorway, with a bronze handle. Kit knocked. A strange array of knocking, as if in the form of some sort of a code. And it probably was, considering. The siblings had encountered many VFD codes so far.

Footsteps could be heard from behind the doorway, approaching.

"Password?" A voice that they Baudelaires were not at all familiar with greeted their ears. It was rough and mournful, unquestionably male.

"The world is quiet here," Kit replied. Kit and the man behind the door's voiced harmonized, as if related.

The door swung open on its bronze hinges with a creak, and the Baudelaires gave each other one last glance before gazing before them to see what lie ahead. 


	2. Chapter two

The breath of the siblings almost caught again at the sight before them. The door opened into a wide hall, made entirely of steel. It was definite what the architect was thinking upon building this. Fire. Choosing not to think about fire at this particular moment, the Baudelaires focused their attention on the man who stood before them. For it was indeed a man. A strangely familiar man, dressed almost entirely in black. Only about half of his face was visible, the other half was disclosed by the shadow of the angled fedora he was wearing. Blemishes covered the visible portion of his face, and only one eye was visible. Blue. 

"Kit." He acknowledged the woman stiffy, although Klaus could detect relief behind the stolid words. "Baudelaires," he continued, as though they were all his cousins from Georgia that he saw once a month, and offered no further explanation as to whom he was, or how he knew who the siblings were. He walked forward, and we followed.

The man in the fedora led them through a steel door at the very back of the hall. "I suppose you're hungry?"

"Of course, you know how long that ride is!" Kit replied with a fervor. Klaus looked at his siblings in dissapointment. He'd been hoping that Kit would reveal the man's name when she finally spoke to him.

The steel door led to what was unmistakably a kitchen and a dining room combined, although the Baudelaires had never seen any kitchen or dining room this busy and full of life.

Most of the people racing back and forth, or sitting down to eat, or cooking, or typing away at a typwriter, were unfamiliar to Klaus, but he did spy one familiar face out of the crowd. This particular familiar face was sitting in a corner, watching people with a frightened look in her eyes.

Pleasantly shocked, he nudged Violet with his elbow. "Aunt Josephine," he whispered into Violet's ear with a fervor. "Alive!" Sunny had apparently also spotted her. "Talk?"

"I don't know, maybe we should wait until we are seated or something.." Klaus was happy to see Josephine alive, but he couldn't help but harbor a slight grudge at her all the same. She valued her life over ours, over anything, off went Klaus's insistent inner voice inot a particularly good person.

"Aren't you starving, Baudelaires? Feel free to help yourself to anything on the table. It's late, we should save the explanations for when you've had a good night sleep." Kit looked down at them, "if that's alright."

Explanations? Of course. So many questions. Like, where are our parents? Are they alive? And why is there some passageway leading from 667 Dark Avenue to their burnt mansion? What was this whole schism thing about? Klaus needed to get his questions in a nice tidy bundle, ready to be asked. Right now they were swarming in his head like a frenzy of snow gnats. A quick glance at his siblings told him that they felt exactly the same way. So they made their way over to the long table, which was suprisingly wooden, and didn't match the steel floors, walls, ceiling, and various appliances.

They took a seat in the corner of the table closest to where Aunt Josephine was sitting, with the intention of asking her how in the world she managed to get away from the leeches.

She spotted them and her eyes widened. "Baudelaires! How are you-what-I'm so sorry!" The look on her face was one of seemingly genuine regret, and their currently harsh expressions softened.

"Yes, well... How in the world did you manage to escape those leeches in Lake Lachrymose?" Violet eyes as wide as Josephines, though Violet's were considerably more lovely.

Shaking off that thought, he listened as Aunt Josephine laughed, the lines in her face deepening. "Well, don't look at me as if I'm so talented. I was rescued. Yes. I actually don't remember much, I was close to passing out what with the fear, and being eaten alive with Leeches and all. I do remember some sort of odd submarine," at this point she frowned, as if attempting to recall something.

Apparently she'd blacked out soon after entering the submarine, and the next thing she remembered being in this hotel, injured. The siblings dug into the marvelous array of food that was before them as they listened to Aunt Josephine's story. Besides the soups, stews, salads and puddings that Klaus and the others all recognized, there were some delicacies that they'd never tried before, and were eager to do so.

"The past week or so, after I was fully recovered, I've been questioned quite a bit on what I remember, especially in regards to the submarine. But I really don't remember much," she finished, at the same time the sibings were finished eating as well.

"Klaus, where are we to stay tonight?" Violet asked, as if suddenly realizing that none of them were thinking about even the immediate future.

"I can answer that," Josephine interrupted. There's only one room left in the hotel, the hotel is quite full, you see. I've heard them saying it was reserved for three siblings that were to arrive soon. Of course, I had no idea that those siblings were you three!"

"Where?" Sunny spoke what Klaus part of what Klaus was wondering for him. He wasn't going to speak the other parts, anyway. He was trying not to _think_ the other parts.

"Hmmm. Well, I don't know the room number, but I know it's at the end of the hallway where I'm staying. I'll show you. I was going to be heading up to my room myself, anyway."

"Thank you," Violet pushed out her chair and stood, and the rest followed. The eldest woman of the group led the way back through the steel door to the steel hall, and to a rickety-looking spiral steel staircase. "Oh, my. Do you Baudelaires have no luggage? What are you going to sleep in?" Klaus grip tightened ever so slightly on the handrail. There went one part.

"I'm not sure. I suppose our clothes?" Violet was yawning. Too tired, Klaus supposed, to wonder about clothes..or sleeping arrangements.

They were now walking along a hall, where the patterened carpet floor contrasted oddly with the steel walls, steel doors, and steel numbers upon the doors.

"Well, here we are. I believe this is it." Josephine tried the door to what she believed to be their room, it opened relatively easily.

The decor wasn't steel, which was a relief. Steel was hard on the eyes after so long. It was carpeted, and the walls were wallpapered. Probably over steel, Klaus ventured. There were several lamps, and the last part of Klaus's question was answered as he saw that there were two queen-size beds.

"I'll be going into my room, now. In the mornings I've noticed breakfast is always in the kitchen-dining room - er, thing," Aunt Josephine grinned sheepishly, "See you in the morning!"

"Goodnight," the Baudelaires replied almost in unison, and shut the door.

"Tired." Sunny looked tired, too. "Bed?"

"Good idea, I'm tired as well. Sunny and I will take the far bed, and you can take the other one, Klaus. You get your own bed. Lucky." She smiled at her own contradiction.

None of them were lucky.

Hours later, Klaus still wasn't asleep. Much to his dismay. A vision kept flitting across his mind just when he was getting to sleep, as if to warn him as to what he would be dreaming of. Where he was lying was only a few feet from the other bed. Ah, the other bed. The other... That antagonizing voice that he hated always had to have the last word before he drifted off. _Freak._


	3. Chapter three

Klaus awoke with the fuzzy remains of a pleasant dream in his head, he couldn't quite place what it had been about exactly. He didn't try too terribly hard. Sitting up in the pleasantly squishy bed, he attempted to recollect the events of the previous night. There was Kit; a long drive, a supper, and questions, a lot of questions. Which he needed to write down. The middle Baudelaire gazed around the room, his eyes finding their targets.

"Violet, Sunny. Good morning, I didn't know you were awake."

"B-barely," Sunny yawned widely and obviously.

"So, I was thinking, we need to make a list of all our-"

"Endless questions regarding the misery that is our lives," Violet finished for him with a watery smile, "I know."

"Paper?" Sunny pushed herself off the bed and, landing unsteadily, started rummaging through drawers. "Pencil." Upon finding them, Sunny handed them up to her siblings.

The list wasn't hard to start. So many questions had been floating around in the siblings heads ever since the moment they'd occurred to them, and had never left. It was making sure that none were forgotten that was hard.

"Regarding the tunnel leading from the mansion remains to 667 Dark Avenue?"

"There"

"Our parent's affiliation with VFD?"

"Check"

"Questionsubmarine?"

"Also there…I think we're okay. If anything else occurs to us, I'm sure we can add it on." Klaus knew Violet was impatient, as was Sunny, and himself. Because, really, when it all came together, the most important question was first on the list.

_Are either of our parents alive?_

Klaus wondered whether or not VFD would have any knowledge of the whereabouts of the Quagmires that the Baudelaires did not… Then wondered where that question would come in on the list. He was fond of the Quagmires, but sometimes he wondered if his fondness compared to the way Violet incessantly fawned over Duncan, or Quigley.

The siblings stood up and, still not having anything to change into, made their way out of the hotel room and down to the hall. Approaching, they heard a angry voices rumbling from within the dining room. They glanced at each other and made a silent decision to eavesdrop. Violet dropped her ribbon, and they crouched by the steel door.

"It's simply unreasonable to want sugar bowls on each table, when we aren't even serving food!" trilled a male voice the Baudelaires did not recognize.

"K, you know as well as I that we _need_ those sugar bowls there." This voice was recognized as Kit's.

"Perhaps there is a way we can manage to serve food, there are dinner plays," replied a rolling voice that was slightly familiar.

"Hmm..We can work this out later, right now I need to find those siblings," sighed the first voice. The familiar sound of a chair being pushed back was heard, but two and two weren't put together-

"Eaaargh!" Klaus inarticulately cried as the door his ear was pressed against swung painfully against his head, causing him to fall backwards.

From the ground, Klaus wondered if the man was really this tall, or if the amount of smallness he felt at the moment was somehow affecting his eyesight. He realized, from the way Sunny and Violet were staring at the man as they pulled Klaus to his feet, that it was not just his mind sight.

"Baudelaires! There you are! What- when- there you are!"

Klaus's mind was still reeling from the blow, and also the sudden and unusual embarrassment of falling and possibly looking less than intelligent, but somehow within his pain he realized that replying might possibly be a nice idea. Saying who are you seemed awfully rude, and so he took a different direction "Yes, um, here we are. How do you do."

The siblings glanced dubiously at each other, and Klaus had an idea of what the others were thinking. It was Violet who spoke.

"We…er. Had some questions about our parents, and other matters, Kit said we could ask tomorrow…which is today. So, can we ask you?"

The large man seemed distracted, staring at the Baudelaires as if in a trance. "Yes. Yes, go ahead. I suppose we'd better move somewhere more comfortable."

He led them into a small room off the side of the hall, which was small and cozy, and the décor seemed to emit warmth. There was a desk and several chintz armchairs. The man gestured to the armchairs, and took at seat himself at the desk.

He sighed again, and spoke, "I'd better introduce myself. You can call me M, if you'd like, but my full name is-" The man suddenly fell into a coughing fit and covered his face with a handkerchief. When he looked up, however, it appeared he had no further intention of carrying on with his sentence, so the Klaus spoke up.

"And we're the Baudelaires, as I'm sure you are aware of."

"Yes, that I know. Before we begin with the questioning, I'd like to ask one question of my own. Where were you sleeping last night? We looked for you for a bit, didn't know where you were," the man looked inquiringly at the siblings.

"Well, Aunt Josephine had told us there was a room prepared for us. We slept there." Violet looked at M uncertainly.

M looked just as uncertainly back. "Room prepared for you? So far as I know, we had only one empty room, prepared for triplets that are arriving today. The Quagmires."


End file.
